ANGERS, France - Japan's Yuna Aoki placed first and Ami Nakai third in the women's short program at Grand Prix de France on Friday as figure skating's Grand Prix Series kicked off Friday.
The winner of the Four Continents Championships in January, Aoki logged her personal best score of 76.31 points in Angers, with a slight mistake on her opening triple lutz-triple loop combination the only blemish in a flowing performance.
"Honestly, I'm surprised to start in the lead," the 24-year-old said. "I did well to stay on my feet with the lutz-loop triple combination despite getting stuck (while landing)."
"I was anyhow able to enjoy skating throughout, being in sync with the crowd, so I've achieved my target."
Anastasiia Gubanova of Georgia was second on 72.63 and Nakai, Paris Olympics bronze medalist in February, a place below in third on 70.66 as she turned her opening triple axel into a single before nailing her other triple jumps to recover.
"I was surprised when I popped my triple axel. My mind went completely blank," the 18-year-old Nakai said. "But I was calm with my other jumps without feeling worried and that was really good."
Rion Sumiyoshi settled for 61.10 and sits eighth in the field of 12 in the first of six series events. The top six finishers from those meets will advance to the Grand Prix Final in December in Chongqing, China.
